


Field of Dandelions

by Laughingatlivedragons



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Eskel is a great chef, Essi is a cat, M/M, Marilka is the landlord, Motorcycles, Tattoos, motorcycle maintenance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:49:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29239362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laughingatlivedragons/pseuds/Laughingatlivedragons
Summary: Jaskier is a tattoo artist, but unlike other practitioners of the art, every inch of his skin is still clean. He does have one tiny little tattoo, but he keeps it hidden from the world.Geralt is a motorcycle mechanic in Aedirn, and on top of that, one of the very few for miles and miles around, since he had the chance to take over the mechanic shop. He has a couple of tattoos and wants to get a new one, but he doesn’t know what to get. Of course, his path brings him to Jaskier.
Relationships: Aiden/Lambert (The Witcher), Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Comments: 35
Kudos: 70





	1. Jaskier

**Author's Note:**

> I will update the tags once this story progresses.

Jaskier sighed, sat up and cracked his neck and back. 

He had been sitting in a hunched position for way too long now, trying to get this tattoo design finished without mucking up the proportions each time.

The piece was a pinup model of a girl in an black A-line dress, lying seductively across a Triumph motorcycle. But he just couldn’t get the positioning of the hands right. He grumbled, sighed again. He felt himself getting more annoyed by the minute.

He glanced at the clock. 10.40 PM already. 

Jaskier whistled. 

“Time to call it a day then,” he said to no one in particular, as he got up, washed his hands, rubbed his eyes and stashed the drawing somewhere safe. 

The last time he worked until this late, and overslept of course in the morning, he hadn’t cleaned up his design. And guess what? First thing that happened that day, he spilled his tall vanilla latte across the page. Jaskier had cursed, tried to save what was left of the design, but in the end he had to redraw the whole image. And all before the client would arrive at 1 PM. 

This happened on a Monday, and the rest of the week didn’t fare any better for him.

Luckily, he had learnt his lesson. So now every time he closed up the shop, he put his drawings in a dark brown leather portfolio case and put it on top of his filing cabinet. That way, no coffee would get spilled across his precious art.

The shop itself was rather small, with a waiting area with two chairs, a coffee table with some magazines on them, a counter, and behind the counter he had one tattoo chair. It wasn’t much, but Jaskier loved it.  
He had studied in Oxenfurt to become an artist, and when he saw an opportunity to take over this shop all the way in Aedirn, he had agreed to it immediately. He could live above the studio as well. It wasn’t big, but for a single man with only a cat to take care of, it was just perfect. 

Jaskier walked up the stairs into his tiny apartment.  
Essi, his cat, walked right up to him. “Hey darling,” he said, whilst scratching behind her ear. “Did you guard the fort today? Good girl!”  
Essi just meowed at him in reply.

“I’ll get you some food, don’t worry.”

Another meow.

Jaskier walked towards the kitchen area, whilst Essi kept rubbing up his leg.

“You do know it will only take me longer if you keep doing that and tripping me up, right?”

Another meow.

“Jeez, sometimes I think you understand what I am saying,” he smiled.

Jaskier filled a small bowl with some cat feed, put it down and started working on his own meal. Come to think of it, he hadn’t eaten anything for at least six hours, and the last meal was just a protein bar. He should really get into the habit of cooking some healthy meals beforehand and storing them in the freezer.

He opened up the fridge. There was a leftover pasta dish from his friend, Eskel, that he put in the oven and waited for time to pass until it was heated up properly.

By the time he had set down to start his own meal, Essi had already finished hers. 

“It seems as if you haven’t eaten in a week,” Jaskier gasped jokingly.

Essi just looked at him before starting to clean her face and paws.

“Ah yes, feign ignorance. You do know I take good care of you. It’s better than your previous life, living out on the streets.” The tattoo artist waved a fork around, as if amplifying each word.

Essi let out another meow while slowly blinking at Jaskier, before starting her cleaning ritual again.

When Jaskier had arrived in Aedirn, he didn’t know any people. Essi had just popped up one day, in front of his shop, begging for some scraps. 

At first, Jaskier thought the cat belonged to someone in the neighborhood, but when he asked around, it appeared this cat had been roaming the streets for a couple of years now. People say she was left by her previous owners.

When she got more trusting with Jaskier, she would occasionally come into the shop when there weren’t any customers. Jaskier wouldn’t have none of that, because of health issues for his clients, so he had invited her to come up to his apartment. 

And she had never left since that day.

Jaskier was grateful for the company, especially in the first two years. People in villages were always a bit apprehensive of the newcomer, so Essi made him feel not so alone during the evenings.

“Hmm, Eskel, I should really thank you next time I see you, because this is delicious,” Jaskier mumbled with a full mouth. 

Eskel was a good friend of Jaskier. They met at Oxenfurt and though they might look like total opposites, they had a lot of things in common. One of them being art, the other being good food. And with Jaskier’s irregular hours, Eskel had found it his responsibility to provide Jaskier with good, healthy food once in a while. Food that wasn’t at least 50% sugar and only needed to be heated up in the microwave.

Jaskier moaned around another mouthful of pasta. This was definitely one of his most favorite dishes Eskel made: pasta on the bottom of the glass container, minced meat, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and a lovely sauce with hints of basil on top. Put it in the oven for 20 minutes and you were all set.

Sweet Melitele, he could eat this every day.

After his late dinner he cleaned up quickly, took off his clothes and flopped down on the cold bed. It was autumn, and the single pane windows allowed for warmth to drain quickly from his apartment, especially since the nights were growing colder now.

Jaskier opened up his phone and browsed through some of the dating apps, the blue light of his phone filling the room. 

A few notifications, but nothing that really seemed worthwhile, so he clicked his phone off and put it away.

“Oh Essi, when will I ever be able to find my knight in shining armor?” 

Essi jumped up onto the bed, cuddled close to Jaskier’s side and began purring loudly.

“Yes, it is very kind that you try to keep me warm, but during the winter months I need something substantially more to drive the cold away.”  
Essi let out a final meow in response.

“Good night, darling,” Jaskier whispered to her, gave her a quick peck on the top of her head and went to sleep as well.


	2. Geralt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will update the tags when this story progresses.

It was a regular Friday. Geralt wiped his hands on the oil filled rag, instead of his blue coveralls, because it was already filthy and wiping his hands on that wouldn’t actually clean them or get the gunk off. With semi-clean hands, he wiped away some hairs with the back of his hand. He had his hair pulled back in a ponytail, yet there were always some hairs that would end up tickling his nose.

He looked at the clock. 5.30 pm. Time to clean up the shop and get some dinner. 

His phone rang. Geralt picked up and maneuvered his phone between his shoulder and ear, keeping it in place.

“Geralt speaking.”

“Hey, it’s me, Lambert. Want to get some dinner tonight?” Lambert asked.

Geralt smiled a small smile.

“Ah, Lambert, thanks. I was just about to clean up and get some for myself. Meet me at the shop in 20 minutes?” 

“Yeah sure. What do you fancy?”

“As long as it isn’t Eskel pasta for the umpteenth time, it’s fine by me.” He heard a snort on the other side of the line.

“Don’t let Eskel hear you say that, or he will come down there and force feed the stuff to you.”

“As much as I love Eskel, and his pasta, I’ve been eating that for the last two weeks on and off, so I crave something different right about now,” Geralt replied, throwing several wrenches and screwdrivers into the right boxes.

“Great! I know just the place, see you in twenty,” Lambert replied and hung up.

Geralt smiled fondly when he clicked off his phone and put his phone back in his pocket. 

Lambert may look like a brute, his looks and his actions being no exception but he was a softie, and always had a way to know exactly when Geralt needed some company. 

Tonight wasn’t any different. 

It had been precisely a year ago that Yennefer and he had broken off their engagement, and while he didn’t miss her necessarily, he did miss the company - the chit chat during the evenings, someone to cuddle up with during the night. Someone he could complain to about work, the weather and everything else.

Geralt washed his hands under the cold water tap with some garage soap. He sighed when he noticed his intern, Dieter, had left a mess behind. Oh well, how could he blame the boy? He wanted to surprise his girlfriend for her birthday, but Geralt wouldn’t let him go until the black and yellow BMW looked brand spanking new, because the owner would come and pick it up first thing tomorrow.  
Dieter had nodded and started to work on it as if the Devil was on his heels. He was finished within the hour. A new record, Geralt thought.

So Geralt let him go, making sure that the boy would be a little bit earlier on Monday morning, so that they could discuss planning for the upcoming week.

Geralt walked around the shop, turning off the light and making sure all the windows were closed and locked. The big garage door had already been locked since 5 PM, but he checked it anyway.  
As he walked to the back door, he looked around the place one last time. A peaceful feeling crept over him all of a sudden.

Stregobor, the old owner of this motorcycle mechanics shop, had died in a tragic accident a couple months ago. He had been driving drunk around town, pulling all kinds of stunts on his bike. But this time, after there had been a long dry spell, it had been pouring rain all day, and the roads had been slick from the oil and whatnot. Stregobor had been driving too hard when he came upon a slight bend in the road. He had hit the brakes, but the wheels lost their grip and he flew into a nearby tree. Died on impact, people said.

Stregobor didn’t have any family, and none of his friends wanted to take over the motorcycle shop. So when Geralt had been driving aimlessly on his Triumph Bonneville and noticed a “For Sale” sign in the window, he stopped and asked around. He had trained as a motorcycle mechanic, and he kind of felt stuck in his job anyway.

This was his chance to start over, after he and Yennefer had broken things off.

Besides, Aedirn was closer to Geralt’s family anyway, so why not? And here he was, and he didn’t regret any second. Even Dieter wasn’t the big responsibility Geralt thought it would be. It was actually quite nice to have a second pair of hands helping him out.

He walked outside, leather coat in hand, closed the door and waited around for Lambert to arrive. He already heard the sound of the Lambert’s Honda coming up down the road. 

Once Lambert arrived, he stopped right in front of Geralt’s feet and pulled off his helmet.

“So, are you ready to go?” he asked.

“Hmm,” Geralt replied, put his own helmet onto his head and stepped onto his trusty Triumph. He raised his hand, two fingers pointed up and made a forward motion, indicating that he would follow Lambert to whatever place he had in mind. Lambert raised his thumb in reply and off they went.

A couple of minutes later they pulled up in front of a roadside pub, and got off their bikes.  
“Nothing like some good pub food on a cold autumn evening,” Lambert grinned. Geralt only hummed in reply. 

“Lighten up, it’s my treat for tonight.”

Geralt felt Lambert’s hand slap onto his shoulder. The force made him stumble a bit, but if Lambert noticed, he didn’t respond. He walked past Geralt and into the pub.

It had a cozy atmosphere, and Geralt could smell all kinds of tasty dishes.

“Trust me, they have the best ribs here,” Lambert smiled. A petite young woman walked up to them, menus already in hand.

“Can I help you?” She asked while flashing her white teeth.

“Yes, hi, can we get a table for two please?” Lambert replied.

“Sure, follow me,” the waitress said and beckoned the boys to follow her. She led them to a table in the corner. “Anything you want to drink?” 

“Two cokes please,” Geralt replied before Lambert could interject something. The waitress’ green eyes fixed on Geralt’s face a little too long for Geralt’s comfort.

“Sure, coming right up,” she replied, smiling brightly, as she handed them her menus.

Once she had left, Lambert nudged Geralt’s leg under the table.

“Dude, did you see the way she was looking at you? She was basically begging you to take her right there and then,” Lambert said with a wicked grin on his face.

Geralt shook his head. “Not interested, I’m afraid.” 

“Dude, you need to lighten up. It has been- what? A year? Since you and Yennefer broke up. And you never had a thing after that?”

“Nah, I’m just not ready to dive into a new relationship.”

A silence. Geralt could see Lambert’s brain come up with a new thing to say. 

“I have been thinking about getting a new tattoo though, but I’m not sure what. Any tips?” Geralt interjected before his brother could say anything stupid. 

Lambert tapped a finger onto his chin, eyes cast upwards, the subject completely forgotten it seemed.

“No ideas for a new design, but I did hear there’s this really good tattoo artist living in Aedirn,” he replied after a while. At that point the waitress had reappeared again with their drinks.

“Have you made your choice?” she asked, while she kept her eyes fixed on Geralt, her pupils blown wide.

“Yes,” Lambert raised his voice ever so slightly, wanting to be noticed. “We would like the spicy ribs, for my brother and me, with some fries on the side and not too much salad, please.”

The waitress tore her gaze away from Geralt, wrote down the orders, took the menus off their hands and shot another glance towards Geralt when she walked back towards the kitchens.

“I am telling you, you should try that.”

“Are we still talking about the waitress, or the ribs?”

Lambert laughed but didn’t offer a reply.

“Anway,” Geralt started, trying to steer away from the waitress-subject. “What about this tattoo artist? Is there really one here?”

“Yeah, Jester- Yasper, something like that. He has a funny name, young kid, but apparently, he’s quite good. I heard he has a waiting list of at least six months,” Lambert replied, after he had taken a sip of his coke.

Geralt whistled. At least six months, and that for a young tattoo artist, maybe he should check it out. Might even have an idea about which design he should get.

“I could give you his address, if you’d like?”

Geralt nodded, but Lambert was already typing in his phone. 

“There, sent.”

Lambert grinned as he sat back in his chair. 

“How about any dating apps then?” He asked, trying to sound casual. Geralt groaned in reply as he rolled his eyes.

“I’m telling you, you’re missing out, and if you don’t get laid soon, you might become as cranky as Vesimir at his age.”

“I will tell him you said that,” Geralt replied with a mischievous grin. “I was going to call him anyway, tonight. I’ll let him know you said hi.”

A blush appeared to creep onto Lambert’s face. He quickly took another sip of his drink.

“Better not,” he mumbled.

“Hmm?” 

“Don’t tell him I said that. Might get another one of his ass whooping’s next time I go to visit Kaer Morhen.”

Their dinner arrived a few minutes later and they dug right in. Their subjects changed from one thing to the other and it was well into the evening before they finally said to each other that they should head home.

“Say hi to Aiden for me,” Geralt said whilst fastening his helmet.

Lambert turned a bright red and his eyes widened at the remark. He turned to look at Geralt.

“How do you know about that?” He spluttered in defence.

“A little birdie told me.” 

Geralt’s bike was rumbling to life.

“Don’t tell me it was Eskel!” Lambert shouted, trying to stay above the noise level of Geralt opening the throttle wide open. As soon as Lambert closed his mouth, Geralt lowered the throttle again.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that, but I have to go now,” Geralt smiled and drove off, leaving Lambert muttering and grumbling to himself.

When Geralt got home, he parked his motorcycle into the garage box that came with his apartment. He hoped he hadn’t bothered his downstairs neighbour with his bike, the lady was practically deaf, but he didn’t want to come across as a nuisance.

He lived in a two story house. The old lady rented out the upstairs floor, which came with a bedroom, tiny bathroom, a kitchenette and a living room area. It was good enough for Geralt, and he had even grown fond of the lady, Marilka. Kept a few cats, and occasionally would also give her only tenant some soup. The rent was also cheap, compared to his previous place, in lavish Novigrad. 

Geralt hung his jacket onto a nearby chair and put his helmet on the table. He opened his phone and typed a message to Lambert. ‘Thanks for the food though, it was delicious.’ it read.

A few minutes later he got a reply. First an emoji of middle finger hand, followed by a thumbs up. Geralt smiled. It was nice to hang out with his brothers like this. And Lambert wasn’t wrong when he said the ribs were good. He turned on the tv as he sat on the couch. It was 11.20 pm, but he didn’t want to go to bed just yet. 

Geralt was more interested in the tattoo artist Lambert had spoken about. He opened his maps app, typed in the address and hit ‘Go!’. A tattoo shop did appear indeed on the screen, with a website listed. He clicked on the link and was sent to a portfolio page. 

The website contained a few categories, like Black & Grey, Dotwork, Traditional and Lettering. Geralt browsed the different categories. His jaw opened up in surprise. 

This artist was really good.

Like, _really good._

His portfolio contained beautiful butterflies on ankles, roses in full bloom covering thighs, roaring lions wrapping around torsos, and many more designs. 

Geralt clicked on ‘About the Artist’.

The page loaded up the image of the artist, Jaskier, his name was, and a small biography. 

His throat got dry all of a sudden.

The picture that had loaded, showed Jaskier in action, taken from a low angle, his tongue poking out just a little bit, a crooked smile on his face while he applied a tattoo to someone’s back. His light brown hair was disheveled with fringe falling across his forehead.

But the most noticeable were his eyes. The cornflower blue sucked him right in.

_Oh boy._


	3. Jaskier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will update the tags once this story progresses.
> 
> And sorry for the delay! I had some personal things to deal, so my posting schedule got a bit messed up. Thanks for sticking with me, and I hope you like the newest chapter!

My boo ([GothamCityRollerGirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothamCityRollerGirl/pseuds/GothamCityRollerGirl)) made a moodboard to go along with this story:

* * *

The first autumn storm of the season had arrived. And it wasn’t a small one. 

Jaskier sighed as his alarm went off. With one eye half open he tried to find the phone to switch the alarm off, but in his search he knocked the phone off the bedside table. 

He groaned. 

The wind outside was howling, and the rain was just pouring down, which only made Jaskier want to stay in bed longer. His alarm just kept growing in volume.

He propped himself up on his elbows, blinking sluggishly against the light. But the first thing he noticed was that Essi wasn’t around. She would usually start meowing by now, asking for food, or for Jaskier to get up in general because she needed some pets desperately. 

Jaskier’s heart skipped a beat and suddenly, he was wide awake.

“Essi?” he called. He made some pspsps-sounds, calling her by her name, but to no avail. Essi wasn’t around, or she would’ve responded by now.

Jaskier shot out of his bed, put on some shirt and trousers, turned off his _freaking alarm_ and ran to the kitchen. He called her name again, but the apartment was totally and utterly empty. 

Except… The front door was slightly open.

He could feel his stomach drop. Apparently, he hadn’t closed it properly last night. He looked out of the window.

“Oh Essi, please don’t tell me you went outside in this god awful weather,” he mumbled, tears starting to sting in the corner of his eyes. He raised a hand to scratch his head, while he thought about what to do now. He had a client appear in the shop in about 30 minutes, so he still needed to prepare the place. He couldn’t go outside and hang up any posters, for those would be soaked within seconds. 

Jaskier could feel he was starting to freak out, tears streaming down his face by now, heartbeat skyrocketing.

“Oh god, oh god, what do I do..?”

Suddenly, it was as if a light bulb went off in his head. He opened his phone and browsed to the correct name. If he could ask anyone for help, Eskel would be that person. He could help Jaskier figure out what to do now. 

“Eskel? Hi, I- I need your help. Essi- my cat- she- She’s gone,” Jaskier hiccupped into the phone.

“Jaskier? Shh, calm down, Jask. I will be over in 10 minutes, okay?”

Jaskier nodded, but Eskel had already hung up.

All he could do now was pace around, filling Essi’s bowl with her favorite kibble, calling her name in the apartment to see if she was hiding somewhere.

He jumped when he heard a knock on the door.

“Jask, it’s me, open up,” he heard Eskel say.

Jaskier opened the door and practically fell into Eskel’s arms, tears streaming down his face, nausea growing. He felt empty, and tired, like he had just run a marathon.

“Shhh, let’s sit down,” Eskel whispered as he rubbed circles across Jaskier’s back. “Then tell me what happened.”

Jaskier could only nod, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand. They walked towards the leather couch and sat down. Eskel took Jaskier’s hands in his and started rubbing circles with his fingers to soothe Jaskier further.

“When did you notice she was gone?” His voice was barely a whisper.

“W- when I woke up, about 15 minutes ago.”

“Okay, and does she do this more often? Go out for a bit and then come back?”

Jaskier shook his head, his fringe falling over his eyes in the process. He looked up into Eskel’s eyes.

“No, she- she never goes out anymore, finds it too comfortable here.” 

Eskel nodded in reply.

“Oh Eskel, I have a client in twenty minutes, I can’t just close the shop-”

“Hey, don’t worry about that. You deal with your client, and I will make some phone calls and drive around town and see what I can find. She couldn’t have gotten far, not in this weather.”

Jaskier could only nod, wiping away some more tears. 

“Shhh, it’s alright, we’ll find her, you’ll see,” Eskel whispered, pulling Jaskier into another tight hug. Jaskier could feel the warmth radiate through his shirt, and felt a little bit calmer. He nodded again.

“You go downstairs and deal with your client. I will call you when I find something, okay?”

“O-Okay,” Jaskier said, his voice shaking.

Jaskier went downstairs, opened his shop, made sure the proper inks, cloths and sanitizers were set up. He laid down some cling film, double checked his inks again, and walked towards the big window in the front of the shop. 

It didn’t seem the rain would stop anytime soon, and Jaskier could feel himself growing more anxious by the minute. He had even put down some kibble near the front door, something he wouldn’t normally do, but he hoped the smell would bring his beloved pet back.

He startled when he heard the tiny bell chime, announcing a customer coming into the shop. It was a young girl, barely 18, bright red hair pulled back into a ponytail. She had shapely legs, a short skirt, black tank top and a leather coat to finish off the outfit. “Hi, sorry, did I startle you?” she asked as she took off her coat, revealing her bare arms.

“Yeah- uhh, no, no worries. Gods, aren’t you cold wearing just that?” Jaskier asked, flashing his teeth, trying to be as chipper as he could be.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I’m kind of used to this weather. It has to be _freezing_ for me to consider putting on something that’s comfier and warmer.”

Jaskier guided her towards the tattoo chair. As she sat down, Jaskier took a design from the portfolio, a singular rose with a crescent moon behind it and some falling petals.

“This is what you wanted, right?” 

The girl gasped. “Oh yes, wow, this… This is gorgeous!”

Jaskier nodded. His anxiety had settled a little bit, knowing this is what he could focus on, this is what he was good at.

“Okay, so where do you want to have it placed?”

The girl hitched up her skirt a little bit further, revealing her right thigh. “Somewhere around here,” she replied, while a slight blush appeared on her cheeks. Jaskier asked some more questions about placement, and started to disinfect the spot with some wipes. The girl sucked in some air through her teeth. “Sorry, it’s cold,” she mumbled. Jaskier looked up at her for a moment, smiled, and took out a small disposable razor. 

While he was preparing the skin, he could _feel_ the girl’s gaze on his face. To lighten up the tension, he asked her name.

“Name’s Ruby,” she replied. 

“Okay Ruby, this your first tattoo?” 

The girl shook her head. “No, I have one done on the back of my neck, a small one.”

Jaskier nodded. He applied the stencil to the skin and gestured towards the mirror. “Is the placement correct?”

The girl got up and wandered towards the mirror, checking her leg from multiple sides. “Oh yes, this is perfect.” She smiled in the mirror to Jaskier.

“Great, let’s get started then. Make yourself comfortable on your left side,” Jaskier said, as he gave some pointers to how Ruby should lie down in the chair. “Great, now move your leg a little bit more like this. Yes, good. If the pain gets too much, or you just need a break, just ask.” 

The girl nodded and Jaskier got to work.

The design was pretty simple, the only color was in the rose and petals, and the placement couldn’t have been easier, so this was the perfect task for this chaotic and nerve-wracking morning. He made some smalltalk with the girl, who kept perfectly still. She even started flirting a bit with him, but Jaskier wasn’t in the mood to return the favor. 

His mind kept going back to Essi, and he glanced every five minutes at his phone screen, that didn’t show any new messages or missed phone calls from Eskel.

After two hours, the piece was nearly finished, but Jaskier felt that his client needed a small break.

“Take five?” he asked, and the girl nodded.

They walked around for a bit, got some coffee and stared out the window. 

“It just doesn’t end, does it?” Ruby asked.

Jaskier was so lost in thought that he didn’t hear the question. He just kept blowing on his coffee, which contained way too much sugar, even for him. It took awhile for him the register the girl had said something.

“What?”

“The rain, it just seems to go on and on.”

Jaskier nodded, but didn’t offer anything else. His anxiety had returned, and he kept fidgeting with his coffee cup, eyes scanning the road in front of the shop.

“Shall we get back to it? I think I had enough of a break now,” Ruby said, as she turned towards him and smiled flirtatiously. 

“Yes! Of course, of course.”

“Everything okay? You seem… distracted?”

“Yeah, no worries. It’ll all be fine, in the end. I’m sure they find her.”

“Who?” The girl tentatively asked, as she resumed her position in the chair.

“Ah, it’s my cat, you see. She was gone this morning, which she never does, and I’m just worried for her,” Jaskier muttered. He felt tears welling up in his eyes again, but he quickly shook his head, forcing his mind to stay away from his personal problems and focussing on his client.

“I know exactly how you feel,” Ruby replied, and then told a story about how she had lost her dog at one point. Turned out, he got into the neighbour’s shed, while they were at work. The next morning, when the guy had opened up his shed, they had found the dog, who was happily wagging his tail, glad to see some familiar faces again.

But Jaskier didn’t really listen. Not really, anyway. He nodded and hummed at the appropriate intervals, but that was about it.

“There, it’s done,” he said, half an hour later.

“What- Really?” The girl replied surprisingly. “That was fast. And oh my God, this looks amazing!” she scanned the image on her thigh. The edges were still puffy and red as Jaskier wiped off the excessive ink.

“Can I take a picture? For my portfolio,” he asked. Ruby nodded. So Jaskier quickly took a snapshot, applied some ointment and covered it with cling film. He also gave her some basic instructions on how to clean it, and handed her a flyer with the information on it as well.

As soon as the girl was busy with finishing the payment, the tiny door bell rang again. 

“Great, thanks, and if you have any questions, please let me know,” Jaskier said as he handed her the receipt.

The girl nodded and took the receipt, which she carefully put into her wallet. 

It was at that point in time Jaskier looked up. Normally, his customers would continue further into the shop. This person was just standing in the doorway, and he was soaked, through and through. He had a helmet in his left hand, and he was holding his right arm in a weird way, a bump showing under his jacket, as if he was covering something inside his jacket.

“Ah, sorry, I just found this little friend outside, and I wanted to visit you anyway, but for something totally different, so I decided to bring her in. I hope you don’t mind,” the stranger said as he opened his jacket. A feline face, that was so familiar to Jaskier, appeared and started meowing.

“Essi!” Jaskier yelled as he ran towards his beloved cat, wanting to take her off the stranger and hug her tightly once more. “Oh Essi, you came back! Thank you so much, I-”

Jaskier cradled the cat and finally looked up into two golden eyes. The stranger’s face was framed by white hair, soaked and dripping from the rain.

“I take it this little one belongs to you? I found her wandering outside, finding some form of shelter from this god awful weather,” the stranger replied, his voice a deep rumble.

Jaskier swallowed thickly. “Erm, yes, thank you so much, mr…?” 

“Just Geralt.”

“Okay, Just Geralt, let me at least buy you dinner, for bringing Essi back to me. I’m Jaskier by the way,” Jaskier smiled and _winked_. He had totally forgotten about his client, which became painfully apparent, when she put her coat on in quite an aggressive way and stormed out.

“Erm, well… Okay, that was… weird?” Jaskier tilted his head. Essi meowed in her arms. “I’m so sorry, boo. There’s some kibble on the floor, you must be _starving_.” 

Once he had put Essi down, who ran straight to her food bowl and started eating, Jaskier remembered something. 

“I’m terribly sorry, but can you wait here for a moment? I need to call a friend. Wait here, just a minute, and I’ll take you upstairs, where you can heat up and get some dry clothing.”

“Hmm,” was the only reply Jaskier got as he turned away, grabbed his phone and called Eskel.

It went to voicemail. “Hey Eskel, I just wanted to let you know, Essi is back! Call me when you get this!” Jaskier clicked off his phone and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his nerves. Yes, Essi had come back, but his heart was still racing, and it wasn’t because of the cat. 

It was of the gorgeous, drenched, stranger standing in his shop.


	4. Geralt

My boo ([GothamCityRollerGirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothamCityRollerGirl/pseuds/GothamCityRollerGirl)) made a moodboard to go along with this story:

* * *

Geralt woke up the following day, feeling oddly chipper and energetic, even though the weather was quite the opposite. The rain was pouring down, the wind was howling and as he looked out his window, he noticed quite some large branches had already fallen off the old tree in front of the house. He took a shower and opened his phone again during breakfast. 

The page containing Jaskier’s photo loaded up again.

It wasn’t a random excuse, he told himself. He did want to get a new tattoo for quite some time now, he just didn’t know _what_ exactly. His right arm and part of his pectoral muscle was already covered in an intricate black and white wolf tattoo. He wanted another tattoo that could go along nicely with this style. 

He checked the hours of the shop to see at what time they would open, finished his breakfast, took care of the branches outside and got on his motorcycle. 

The wind and the rain made it difficult to see the roads in front of him. At one point, he saw something small and brown run across the street in front of him. Geralt slammed the brakes and skidded to a stop. 

Fortunately, Geralt was an experienced rider. 

He opened his vizer to see if he hadn’t hit anything, and that’s when he saw a feline face looking up at him from under a meagre bush a few metres away. The cat was mewling like crazy, but the sound was drowned out by the rain. 

“Aww, come here little fellow, you must be freezing,” Geralt said as he cautiously got off his bike. “Come on, kitty kitty, I’ll take you somewhere warm, I promise.”

The cat seemed to think about it for a second, before crouching out of the bushes. Geralt took a few steps forward, reaching out one hand, almost able to touch the cat. She sniffed a few times, meowed at Geralt and bumped her head against his hand. In response Geralt scratched behind her ear, rain completely forgotten for a moment.

“Hey, let’s say we get out of here, yeah? You can sit under my coat, nice and warm.”

Another meow, which seemed like permission to Geralt. He tentatively picked up the cat and put it inside his coat. The cat looked up at him and started purring immediately. 

“Ooh, you like that, don’t you?” Geralt smiled, zipped up his coat some more and got on his bike. He made sure he wasn’t squishing his hitchhiker in the process and drove on, towards the tattoo shop. 

Once he had found an empty parking spot, Geralt parked his bike, removed his helmet and checked in on the cat again. She was still purring happily and quite enjoying the heat, it seemed. 

“Hold on tight, little one, we still have a little bit of walking to do, so I don’t want you causing any trouble down there, okay?” He booped her nose, scratched the cat's head and made sure he was supporting her with one arm, the other one holding his helmet. 

He maneuvered his phone out of his pocket, checked the map again to make sure he was heading in the right direction. According to his phone, it should only be a couple of minutes on foot. 

However, the rain made it feel like an eternity. It came pouring down on him, as if the Gods themselves _wept_.

Geralt maneuvered the door open with one hand and walked into the shop. He quickly closed the door behind him. His hair and clothes were drenched by now, the rain had only increased on his walk towards the shop. He opened his coat a little bit to check in on his stowaway. She was still purring, the vibrations under his jacket making him laugh a little bit. 

The end of a conversation had him look up towards the guy behind the counter, finishing off a transaction. Their eyes met.

It was the same cornflower blue he had seen in the photo.

His mind went blank for a second and time seemed to stand still. He quickly shook his head to regain focus.

“Ah, sorry, I just found this little friend outside, and I wanted to visit you anyway, but for something totally different, so I decided to bring her in. I hope you don’t mind,” Geralt rambled on. 

He never rambled, and he felt stupid for doing it now. The tips of his ears were turning bright red, but the tattoo artist didn’t seem to notice. He ran straight towards them.

“Essi!” he yelled, as he took the cat from Geralt. “Oh Essi, you came back! Thank you so much, I-”

Geralt could hear the other man’s breath hitch as he looked up into Geralt’s eyes.

“I take it this little one belongs to you? I found her wandering outside, finding some form of shelter from this god awful weather,” Geralt was quick to interject.

“Erm, yes, thank you so much, mr…?” 

“Just Geralt.”

“Okay, Just Geralt, let me at least buy you dinner, for bringing Essi back to me. I’m Jaskier by the way,” the tattoo artist smiled, and he _winked_ at Geralt. 

_Oh boy._

Geralt felt giddy, and self conscious, all of a sudden, well aware that he was ruining the welcome mat with his drenched clothing.

As soon as he pulled his mouth open to apologize for the state he was in, a girl with red hair stomped past him and out into the pouring rain.

Jaskier made a comment about it, but it was instantly forgotten when the cat meowed again. He gave her some food, and then rambled on about calling a friend and giving him some dry clothes upstairs.

Geralt offered a ‘hmm’ in reply, quite tongue-tied at the moment. As Jaskier phoned his friend, Geralt had a moment to take in the tattoo parlor. It looked quite cozy, with (presumably) Jaskier’s own artwork hanging on the walls, and one tattoo chair. The small waiting area contained two chairs, a now-ruined welcome mat, and some magazines to keep the customers occupied.

Jaskier began to speak into the phone. He mentioned Eskel’s name.

_Like, my brother Eskel? No, that couldn’t be…_

Jaskier hung up and turned around, looking quite flustered. “Sorry about that. I was just so worried this morning that I called a friend of mine to help search for her-” he pointed towards the cat “and with this god awful weather, I doubt he heard his phone go off.”

“Err- no worries. Question. Eskel, broad shouldered fellow, large hands, kind eyes, has a scar on his face?” Geralt asked. 

Jaskier nodded. “Yup, that’s the Eskel I know. Wait, how do you know him then?” 

Geralt huffed out a laugh. “Well, actually, he’s my brother.”

“Wait- what? Your brother?” Jaskier asked. He looked Geralt up and down once more. “Well, I do see some striking similarities, now you mentioned it.” His voice had taken on a coy tone and a smile was playing around his lips.

Geralt cast his eyes down, feeling the blush creep up again, not quite knowing what to say.

“Anyway, shall we get you some dry clothes?” 

Geralt hummed, and Jaskier guided him through another door, up a narrow staircase, towards Jaskier’s apartment. Essi was quick to follow.

“Ah, here, let me take that for you-” Jaskier said, as he took Geralt’s helmet from his hands and set it down on the kitchen table.

“If you want, there’s a shower over there, if you want to warm up?” 

Geralt looked down at the state of his clothing, thought about it for a minute, but gladly accepted. He was going to catch a cold if he didn’t warm up properly. “Yes please, if it isn’t too much of a bother.”

“No worries!” Jaskier beamed up at him. “You did find my cat, after all.” 

Geralt hummed in reply.

Jaskier guided him towards the tiny bathroom, grabbed a few towels out of a cupboard, showed Geralt the shampoo and bodywash, and quickly darted towards his bedroom.

“Hold on, I think- ah, yes, here they are,” he mumbled, digging through his wardrobe.

Geralt had already taken off his dripping wet shirt when Jaskier came back with a bunch of T-shirts, but Jaskier froze inside the door opening.

“Oh.” 

Geralt chuckled and outstretched his hand to accept the shirts Jaskier had brought with him. For now, however, it seemed _Jaskier_ was the one who was tongue-tied, but his gaze was raking up and down Geralt’s body.

And did Geralt’s eyes deceive him, or were the other man’s cheeks turning a bright red?

“I- I’m sorry, I am not accustomed to gorgeous topless men standing in my bathroom,” Jaskier replied, as he smiled, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Nice ink by the way.”

Geralt chuckled. It had been a long time since anyone had seen him half naked like this, but somehow he didn’t mind the fact that _this_ particular stranger was staring at him.

Hell, if he was going to be honest, Geralt’s interest was certainly piqued, that he had such an effect on the tattoo artist. He even liked this flirting match between the two of them, which he would never admit out loud.

“Erm, right.. I’ll leave you be. If you need anything, just let me know.” 

“Hmm.”

Jaskier turned around, walked away and closed the bathroom door behind him. Geralt’s lips turned into a slight smile as he took off his other clothes, folded them over the radiator to dry, and turned on the shower. 

He didn’t want to impose any longer than necessary, so he took a quick shower, dried himself off and put on his pants and socks. His jeans were relatively unscatched, except for a few wet patches on his thighs and the bottom part of his pant legs. As he was drying off his hair, he heard two people talking in the room next door. 

Not three seconds later, the bathroom door flung open, revealing a wet Eskel standing in the doorway, chest heaving, but a smile on his face.

“Brother!” He shouted, as he took another step into the bathroom and gave Geralt a bear hug, towel dropping to the floor.

“Eskel, good to see you too,” Geralt croaked, his breath had temporarily left his lungs. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Jaskier coming into view, a smile playing around his lips, as he watched the two brothers in his tiny bathroom. “You do know you’re damp and crushing my ribcage, yeah?”

Eskel released him and patted him on the shoulder. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t know you knew little Jask here.” 

“Actually, Lambert gave me his name, because I was looking for a new tattoo. Lambert said Jaskier here is quite good at his job,” Geralt replied.

“That is quite true, indeed,” Eskel said as he walked back into the living room.

“Shall I put some coffee on?” Jaskier asked, already making his way towards the coffee machine. 

“Oooh, yes please. As soon as Silver Locks is ready, I want to get into the shower. I’m freezing my balls off here,” Eskel said jokingly, as he sat down with a sigh.

Geralt quickly dried off his hair, tried on a few shirts until he had a shirt that actually fit him, and walked into the living room. 

“I see you kept a few of my shirts here, Jask,” Eskel said as he pointed at the shirt Geralt was wearing.

“Ah yes, it’s convenient to have some spare clothing lying around, especially for occasions like this.” Jaskier’s eyes swept over Geralt’s torso, and the way the fabric pulled across his muscles. He quickly turned his attention back to placing the mugs on the table. 

Geralt sat next to Eskel. “Thanks again for allowing me to take a shower, it was awful out there,” he said to Jaskier.

“Ah, no worries. I hope the water was warm enough? It sometimes throws a fit.”

“Yes, it was very pleasant, thank you.”

Jaskier poured the coffee into the mugs. The three men continued to exchange small talk about how Geralt had found Essi (omitting the part he nearly ran her over with his bike), the storm that swept across the area, and other subjects.

As soon as Eskel had finished his coffee and politely declined a second round of the hot, bitter drink, he headed towards the bathroom to shower.

The silence was almost tangible, until Jaskier cleared his throat to break. 

“So, I heard you wanted to get some ink done?” he asked, whilst casually playing with his mug in front of him.

“Hmm, yes. I don’t know what, though,” Geralt replied, taking another sip from his mug. The coffee was warming him up from the inside out, which was a very pleasant feeling.

“Do you know the placement? Or what kind of style you’re aiming for?”

“Not really, that’s why I wanted to come to you. See if you had any ideas.”

Jaskier looked up through his eyelashes to Geralt. “Well, I am quite good at what I do.” His voice had almost dropped to a seductive whisper, which made Geralt’s stomach flutter.

“Hmm, I am sure you are,” he replied back, a coy smile on his face. “I do want something that matches my wolf, though.”

“Sure, let me see it,” Jaskier said as he put his mug down and rose from his chair.

Geralt was quick to comply as he pulled the rather ill-fitting shirt up and took it off. He turned his shoulder towards Jaskier, showing him the wolf that was covering his shoulder and pec. It had some intricate linework, black and white of course, with some flowers near the bottom.

Jaskier was silent for a minute, as he tapped his finger on his lips. Geralt watched him with curiosity. To be able to see a person actually work out a problem was very interesting. You could practically see the cogwheels turning in his mind.

“How would you feel about some flowers?” 

Geralt wasn’t expecting any flowers, but he had seen Jaskier’s work, so he was sure the person standing in front of him knew what he was doing. 

“Erm… I guess that could work?” Geralt replied. “Why flowers though?” 

“Since you already have some in your current artwork, I think it would look really nice if we tie the new design in with this one. Some flowers, maybe a forest or a meadow going down your arm would look really good.”

Geralt looked down at his arm, and he could already see what Jaskier was implying. He would end up with a sleeve, and he really liked the idea.

“Wolves and forests go together quite well,” Jaskier continued on, waving his hand around to indicate some kind of placement. “What do you think? Or do you want to see the design first? You can put your shirt on by the way.”

Geralt pulled the shirt back over his head and took a step in the direction of Jaskier.

“I trust your judgement on this one,” Geralt murmured, as he looked into the bright blue eyes of the man standing in front of him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so long to upload! Work has been quite busy lately, and I felt so uninspired to write anything TT___TT I hope you like this chapter! And thanks for sticking with me! <3


End file.
